Massive sinkhole swallows Florida resort villa

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Posts : 76310Join date : 2012-01-04Location : Woodstock Nation

Massive sinkhole swallows Florida resort villaPosted on August 13, 2013 by The Extinction ProtocolAugust 13, 2013 – CLERMONT, Fla. — An official at the Florida resort where a villa was partially swallowed into the ground says it doesn’t appear the sinkhole on the site is growing. Summer Bay Resort President Paul Caldwell told reporters during a news conference Tuesday that engineers examined the 100-foot sinkhole at Clermont resort and determined there’s no reason to believe it will grow. Caldwell says the resort remains open, but with three buildings still unoccupied. The resort is taking claims from guests staying in the collapsed building. Guests from two adjacent buildings that also were evacuated are being allowed in with escorts to retrieve possessions. On Monday, about a third of one 24-unit villa collapsed. Affected guests were evacuated, and no injuries were reported. The three-story villa was reported as a total loss. The first sign of trouble came about 10:30 p.m. Sunday. Security guard Richard Shanley had just started his shift, and he heard what sounded like shouting from a building. A guest flagged him down to report that a window had blown out. Shanley reported it to management, and another window popped. The resort’s staff decided to evacuate the villa. Shanley said the building seemed to sink by 10 to 20 inches and banisters began to fall off the building as he ran up and down three floors trying to wake up guests. One couple with a baby on the third floor couldn’t get their door open and had to break a window to get out, he said. “It’s a scary situation,” said Shanley, who guests credited with saving lives by knocking on doors to awaken them. Inside, they heard what sounded like thunder and then the storm of water, as if it were a storm. Evacuation took about 10 to 15 minutes, according to staff and witnesses. Amy Jedele heard screams coming from one of the adjacent buildings around 10:30 p.m., and several minutes later, the sounds of sirens. She and her fiance, Darren Gade, went outside. “That’s when you could hear the pops and the metal, the concrete and the glass breaking,” she said. –Weather